Saturday, July 29, 2017

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S2E16 - "Cat and Mouse"

While re-watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars, I noticed a design element in S2E16 "Cat and Mouse" that I'd missed before.

Under the command of Admiral Trench, the Separatists have blockaded Christophsis.  The episode starts with the Republic forces' attempt to break through the blockade.

Watching the episode this time, I noticed that Trench's command ship has six eyes painted on it so that the ship itself looks a bit like Trench.



Shortly after this scene, Admiral Yularen identifies Trench via a different marking on the ship:


but the six eyes painted on the prow seem to be an equally distinctive indication of who's commanding the ship.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S1E9 - "Cloak of Darkness"

This post contains spoilers.

A couple months ago, I started re-watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars from the beginning.  Rather than just watch the episodes again, I'm watching them with the French audio to try to improve my French.

I recently watched the four-episode Geonosis arc in season two, which got me thinking about "Cloak of Darkness" from season one (the first episode Luminara Unduli is in, as more than just a hologram, at least).  I'd watched it weeks before, but it was only recently that I realized something about the fight between Commander Gree and Captain Argyus.

Early in the fight, Argyus kicks Gree, dislodging his helmet.  The remainder of the fight is between a helmeted Argyus and a helmet-less Gree:


Their respective head gear reveals their characters.  Argyus is the leader of the senate commandos, but he's betrayed the Republic and is helping Nute Gunray escape.  He seems more concerned with himself than either side of the war though, telling Gree that he wanted "a life with more than empty servitude" and gloating to Gunray after a successful escape that "I'll be a legend for this."  His shifting loyalty is represented by his retaining his helmet, which obscures his face:


Gree, on the other hand, is steadfastly loyal to the Republic.  When Gunray tries to bribe him at the beginning of the episode (saying "I am a man of great wealth, and I can be very generous to my allies"), he doesn't even consider it, and he's indignant about Argyus' betraying the Republic.  There's no deception with Gree, which is represented by his not wearing a helmet here.  He's not hiding anything.


As far as their positions, Argyus and Gree are parallel characters.  Argyus is a captain, and Gree is a commander.  By the end of this episode, their character arcs reveal the value of their choices.  Gree has a virtuous morality and survives the incident, but Argyus, who seems concerned with only his own interests, is killed by Ventress: